Citigroup on Wednesday initiated coverage on a broad range of networking equipment companies, giving buy ratings to Qualcomm (QCOM), Nokia (NOK), Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) and F5 Networks (FFIV), but calling Cisco Systems (CSCO) a sell. Analyst Ehud Gelblum’s only other buy rating went to Riverbed Technology (RVBD). His other sell ratings went to BlackBerry (BBRY) and Brocade (BRCD). Citigroup gave neutral ratings to Ciena (CIEN), Corning (GLW),
Consumers might be ambivalent about smartwatches, but that’s not stopping a host of consumer electronics makers from bringing products to market in the emerging category. Qualcomm (QCOM) will make its Toq smartwatch available for sale on its website starting Monday for $349.99. It will join Samsung’s Galaxy Gear and Sony ‘s (SNE) SmartWatch 2 on the market, along with devices from startups like Pebble. The Qualcomm Toq (QCOM) (pronounced “talk”) works with Google (GOOG) Android-based smartphones and displays information at a glance, with no on-off switch. It connects to phones via Bluetooth wireless and lets users view text messages, meeting alerts and other information on their wrist, as well as accept or reject incoming calls. The Toq comes preloaded with weather and stock apps from AccuWeather and E-Trade Financial (ETFC). Qualcomm is using the Toq smartwatch mainly as a technology demonstration tool. It hopes to entice other manufacturers to use its technologies, including low-power displays and wireless charging. It refers to the Toq as a “limited edition smartwatch.”
Chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM) expects a pickup in royalty revenue in 2014 from China as the country’s wireless service providers roll out 4G wireless data networks. At an analysts’ day in New York on Wednesday, Qualcomm management also guided to stable royalty rates, easing worries that stemmed from a small decrease in Q3. The wireless chipmaker reported Q3 EPS that missed views . “Qualcomm’s royalty rate is expected to be 3.1% to 3.3% in fiscal 2014,